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PARIS — We could write a treatise on gastronomic diplomacy. It would include famous meals, including those of François Mitterrand and Margaret Thatcher at La Mère Poulard on Mont-Saint-Michel in 1988; Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schroeder at Chez Yvonne in Strasbourg in 2014 for a tête de veau; or Emmanuel Macron trying to woo Donald Trump at the restaurant on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower in 2017.
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On the evening of May 3, the Macron couple received the Scholz couple at a top Parisian restaurant — a “private dinner,” the Élysée presidential palace said, refusing to give further details.
It was anything but simple leisure. If they were short on topics of conversation, the French president and German chancellor could always talk about Chinese President Xi Jinping’s upcoming visit to Paris; Olaf Scholz was in Beijing last month, and coordinating positions vis-à-vis the Chinese giant is a must. The Élysée would like to invite Scholz to take part in the meeting with Xi next week, as Angela Merkel did in 2019 in Paris — a first.
Cold icebreakers
If they still lacked conversation topics, Macron and Scholz could discuss the cover of this week”s edition of the British magazine The Economist, featuring the French president with the headline “Europe in mortal danger.”
The Franco-German relationship depends in part on the alchemy between the two main leaders.
In an interview, Macron clarifies his statement that Europe can die, a little phrase he uttered in a recent speech at the Sorbonne. And he once again leaves the door open to sending ground troops to Ukraine: “If the Russians were to go and pierce the front lines,” he said, “If there were a Ukrainian request — which is not the case today — we should legitimately ask ourselves the question.” End of quote.
When he first alluded to this possibility last February, Macron drew a sharp negative reaction from Scholz. Now, the French president is persisting.
Gastronomic diplomacy
The Franco-German relationship is such that it depends in part on the alchemy between the two main leaders — De Gaulle-Adenauer, Mitterrand-Kohl, Chirac-Schroeder, etc. — but that’s not all. The extent of shared interests is considerable, and above all, both countries are aware of their particular responsibility within the European Union.
France and Germany cannot steer the 27 European countries on their own.
In these times of war in Ukraine, and other “mortal” threats such as the risk of technological stalling, or the China-U.S. Cold War, it is vital that the EU’s two main powers get along. Even when they disagree, as they have for months now.
European leadership cannot be provided by a single country, no matter how powerful, nor by a single leader, no matter how ambitious. Nor can France and Germany steer the 27 European countries on their own; Poland is now the best candidate to join this historic leadership, and various coalitions are forming depending on the subject. It’s a complex process, but what better way to smooth out differences than through gastronomic diplomacy?
